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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The Catch

Saw a link to this photo come across the SABR listserv with the author wondering whether this really does depict "The Catch" made by Willie Mays in game one of the 1954 World Series. I hadn't seen this photo before and if anyone has any comments on it I'll pass them along.



And for those interested in the background of "The Catch", here's a snippet from the Ken Burns documentary featuring George Will and Bob Costas.

3 comments:

Martini Agonistes said...

A few things come to mind.

1. Willie is wearing a dark colored 3/4 sleeve shirt under his jersey in the video. You can maybe see that in the photo, but it's not clear.

2. There's a dirt stain on his right knee in the photo. You can maybe see that in the photo, but it's not clear.

3. The photo looks to have been taken from left center of Willie making a catch on that side of the field. "The Catch" was made right of center.

4. Willie could not have fired 3 aimed shots with a scope-sighted bolt-action rifle in 10 seconds. Nobody can; it's too hard.

Blogball said...

Wow I have never seen this angle either. If you Google Image Willie Mays the catch that pictures only appears 2 times. Baseball-fever and another site that looks like a government information site.
I think it’s legit because if you look at the famous picture (long shot) you can see the protruding wall.
http://www.allauthentic.com/images/products/maysnew16201139601948.jpg

It could be possible that the other picture was taken from the first row of seats.above the windows or maybe through one of the windows.

superslot said...

Wow I have never seen this angle either. If you Google Image Willie superslot